Department of Health and Social Care

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Lord Mendelsohn: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the statement by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and ImmunisationCOVID-19 vaccination programme for 2023: JCVI interim advice, 8 November 2022, what estimate they have made of the number of vaccinations required to prevent a COVID-19 hospital admission for individuals in clinical risk groups, as outlined in the Green Book; and whether they will provide a link to Appendix A of this statement.

Lord Markham: The numbers needed to vaccinate (NNV) for the prevention of hospitalisation was calculated to consider the benefits of continued offers of primary vaccination, booster vaccination, the autumn booster and potential boosting in the spring of 2023, for example, for those newly entering a risk group. This calculation estimates the number of people in a particular group who would need to be vaccinated in order to prevent one hospitalisation. The lower the number, the more beneficial vaccination of that group would be. Strong age effects were seen, as well as large differences within adult ages, by clinical risk group. The oldest age groups and the older individuals in clinical risk groups had the lowest NNV for prevention of hospitalisation. There is also a trend for higher NNV for prevention of hospitalisation when moving from the primary to each booster dose. The spring 2023 booster is for immunosuppressed people at risk rather than all individuals in a clinical risk group. The results of NNV by age and clinical risk group are shown in Tables 3b and 4a of Appendix 1, which is attached. These cover all individuals in a risk group based on analysis of data including the national immunisation register. The NNV has not been broken down into separate clinical risk groups, as outlined in the Green Book.Appendix 1: NNV to prevent hospitalisation (pdf, 330.0KB)

Department for Transport

Motor Vehicles: Sales

Lord Rooker: To ask His Majesty's Government what limitations they have identified with respect to meeting the dates planned for banning the sale of new petrol and diesel internal combustion motor cars.

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: The Government has set out ambitious targets for the transition to zero emission vehicles (ZEVs) and has identified three key areas which we are supporting to make that ambition a reality:Vehicles - Government grants have been in place for over a decade to help reduce the up-front purchase price of electric vehicles. Grants remain in place for harder to transition vehicles along with favourable tax incentives. In addition, as the global transition to electric vehicles quickens, the recently announced ZEV mandate on new cars and vans will ensure the UK’s share of ZEVs increases.Infrastructure – The Government is aware how important the reliability and availability of chargepoints are for EV drivers and its EV Infrastructure Strategy sets out its plans to accelerate the rollout of EV chargepoints. The rollout of EV charging infrastructure will be supported by the Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) fund and the Rapid Charging Fund (RCF). The LEVI fund will support local authorities to work with industry and transform the availability of charging infrastructure for drivers without off-street parking. The RCF will future-proof the electrical capacity at strategic locations to support ultra-rapid en-route charging.Energy system - The Government expects the transition to EVs to create significant new demand for electricity, and it has mechanisms in place to cope with this. The capacity market is the Government’s principal tool for ensuring security of supply and is supported by the Contracts for Difference scheme which supports significant investment in low carbon generation.With more than one million plug-in vehicles on UK roads and industry figures showing that one in five new cars sold in 2022 had a plug, we are on track for mass adoption of zero emission vehicles over the next decade.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Waste Management: Fires

Lord Foster of Bath: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of fires in waste processing plants resulting from lithium-ion batteries.

Lord Benyon: Through desk-based research and conversations with the Fire Service, Waste Industry Safety and Health Forum and other members of the Steering Group, the Environment Agency has been able to acquire data and gain an understanding of the number of waste fires and costs that can be attributed to waste fires caused by lithium-ion batteries in the UK. The Environment Agency estimates that around 48% of waste fires can be attributed to lithium-ion batteries; this equates to approximately 201 waste fires in the UK each year.

Department for Science, Innovation and Technology

Broadband: Wales

Lord Lipsey: To ask His Majesty's Government what plans, if any, they have to introduce an equivalent of the Welsh Access Broadband Cymru schemein England.

Viscount Camrose: The Access Broadband Cymru (ABC) scheme is run by the Welsh Government and provides grants to fund (or part-fund) the installation costs of new broadband connections for homes and businesses in Wales. New connections through this scheme must deliver a step change in speed, with at least double current download speeds. However, it does not require all connections to be gigabit-capable.The UK Government’s focus is on the delivery of Project Gigabit across the whole of the UK. Project Gigabit is the government’s £5 billion mission to deliver lightning-fast, reliable broadband across the UK. Over 75% of UK premises now have access to a gigabit-capable broadband connection, which is a significant increase from 6% in January 2019.We are delivering a series of procurements to provide subsidies to broadband suppliers to build gigabit-capable infrastructure to premises that will not be reached by suppliers’ commercial plans alone. We have already awarded eight Project Gigabit contracts and launched a further 18 procurements across the country, making over £1.2 billion of funding available to cover up to 850,000 premises. The Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme also provides a subsidy of up to £4,500 for residents and businesses towards the cost of installing gigabit-capable broadband via local community broadband projects.